I've wondered about this wierd fanatic attitude that some fans of the book Twilight. Some people I know like the book for its romantic love story between a powerful vampire and a normal (?) human - the contrast in power, I guess is interesting. Also, the fascination with all things perfect (e.g. a vampire) may lead some readers to love this book.

Having read the book (and the rest in the series), I'm not against Twilight or its fans, but I think "good things in moderation". If you like something, you shouldn't go overboard on it. Good readers should choose to read from a wide variety (e.g. the mentioned series in the first post) so that they can enjoy different writing styles from many authors. :)

I agree I have absolutely no idea why it became such a sensation.

If i had to take a guess I would have to say the way that the book is written, that's what kept my attention, I think. It's just nice and laid back, nothing to complicated.

I don't know, probably because It has a ton of unrealistic sappy romance in it, so when teenage girls read it their hormones make them like it. Or something, I'm not sure. Maybe today's people are devolving vampire fetishes.

The more people talk about it, the more people will read it and therefore form an opinion on it. It's had a lot more exposure to the public than any of the books you mentioned. Whilst not the only factor, this is really important.

And I think, like a lot of books, it has elements people can relate to.

I don't believe Dante's Inferno and Oedipus Rex have been LOOKED OVER considering they've both outlived their writers for so long and are STILL among the most influential pieces of literature ever WRITTEN. What the HELL. I mean, if you mean "looked over" as in they don't have fangirls or fanfiction, well..... You can't expect girls to foam at the mouth over a man who killed his father and had 4 children with his mother, can you?

But I do agree with you on the points about Twilight.

Stephen King (as much as I detest him too) might have the answer we're all looking for:

“Both Rowling and Meyer, they’re speaking directly to young people… The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good. People are attracted by the stories, by the pace, and in the case of Stephenie Meyer, it’s very clear that she’s writing to a whole generation of girls and opening up kind of a safe joining of love and sex in those books. It’s exciting and it’s thrilling and it’s not particularly threatening because it’s not overtly sexual. A lot of the physical side of it is conveyed in things like, the vampire will touch her forearm or run a hand over skin, and she just flushes all hot and cold. And for girls, that’s a shorthand for all the feelings that they’re not ready to deal with yet.”

Well said, you pretentious jackass, well said.

... Oh, and I'm not calling King a pretentious jackass because of what he said about Twilight, rather I call him that because he wrote the Dark Tower series and wasted many hours of my life.

Its not THAT good, I don't know what people see in it. If they want to be vampires and go to hell, shrugs its their life. Not mine.

It is a romance story. Teenage girls like romance stories. There are a lot of teenage girls in the world.

At least they're reading?

One word - tweens.

For some reason the idea of a dead guy stalking them while they sleep is an attractive thing.

I can see how it appeals to people, as far as I can tell there's nothing deep to Bella, the few insights we get to her is that she's pretty and clumsy. We as the reader fill in the blanks with ourselves, we are Bella and we get her hunky boy issues.

Personally, I found Bella annoying and that's why I never got into the books, Edward was also a bit 2-D, but I swear I could not understand how he could like Bella. It felt like she was whining the whole book.

As for it becoming popular, I'm not sure, I know the movies def, had something to do with it, but before? I think it just fed into a lot of girls ideal dude, someone who cares for them, listens, stalks but isn't creepy kinda dude.

Lolol at Robert P. Didn't he actually say he hated Edward the character? I will find this magazine...

Since this is talking specifically about a book series and its merits and non-merits I'm going to go ahead and move this topic over to the entertainment forum.

Edward Cullen/Robert Pattinson. Tweenyboppers think he's "hot." /I/ think he looks like a pedophile, but that's just my personal opinion. Fangirls made it horrible, so annoying. It's like Hannah Montana, you see Edward and Bella EVERYWHERE.. so much so that it's impossible to bear.

I think my cousin gave the best and most honest reason when she said that it's porn for the mind.

My guess is that movie/marketing people were on the look for the next Harry Potter, and saw a teen book with a fantasy storyline and decided to make it go BOOM =D!

I can see the flaws in Twilight. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm a friggin obsessed Twi-hard. I annoy myself sometimes. I didn't think it was possible to be so obsessive. I imagine it became so famous for the same reasons Harry Potter did. So many people seemed to like it and formed little groups to talk about it all the time. Oh and I can't vote, I'm not a fan of Bella. =]

I've never heard of the books you mentioned. I think the it's the very personal and deep feelings of all parties concerned that makes the book interesting personally.

I think most people have a hard time liking Twilight for one of three reasons. 1.) They just don't want to like it because others do. 2.) Books with romance just seem stupid to them or 3.) They are for some reason comparing the book to other movies or books unable to accept the books as unique and a completely different world than the books they are comparing to. Not that any of those things are wrong of course everyone has their reason for things.

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